President Kenyatta inspects trial section of the Standard Gauge Railway

January 23, 2015

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By PSCU, The President inspected a trial section of the SGR at Mtito Andei and later toured a plant for manufacturing rail sleepers and bridge sections/FILEMTITO ANDEI, MAKUENI, Jan 23 — President Uhuru Kenyatta Friday inspected a section of the Standard Gauge Railway, which has already been laid, as the implementation of the ambitious project continues in earnest.

The President inspected a trial section of the SGR at Mtito Andei and later toured a plant for manufacturing rail sleepers and bridge sections.

Speaking when he addressed local employees of the company constructing the SGR — China Roads and Bridges — President Kenyatta said the whole region is yearning for the completion of the Mombasa-Nairobi section of the railway.

He called on the employees to dedicate themselves so that the Sh327 billion project is completed according to schedule.

The President said he will be closely monitoring the progress of the project because he wants Kenyans and the region to benefit from it as soon as possible.

“I will be visiting you more often and keep up the good work,” said the President during the inspection which took the better part of the day.

The 472 kilometre Mombasa-Nairobi phase of the project will be completed in three years before the construction of the other legs of the northern corridor SGR begin.

The next phase will be the 505 kilometre Nairobi-Malaba route to be followed by the Kisumu branch line, which will be 132 kilometres long.

Besides the northern corridor SGR routes, the Government will also build the LAPSSET corridor Standard Gauge Railway, which will consist of the Lamu-Isiolo route (1,350 kilometres) and the Nairobi-Isiolo route (700 kilometres).